The concepts of the invention were previously set forth by applicant in Disclosure Document No. 138,252, said document being incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates generally to newspaper vending machines of a specialized type in which only a single copy of a newspaper may be obtained by a user upon appropriate activation of the vending machine.
Single copy newspaper vending machines are known in the prior art as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,800, said patent being assigned to the owner of all rights in the present invention.
Such single copy dispensers have proven to be a valuable and reliable means for reducing theft losses in the industry. However, the problem remains with all newspaper vending machines that they do not provide a guaranteed sale as do the home subscriptions carried by a newspaper.
In the newspaper industry, it is known that approximately 80% of a newspaper's income revenues are from advertisers with the remaining 20% of revenue coming from newspaper sales. Of the newspaper sales made by a typical newspaper, 80% are via home delivery paid subscription and 20% are single copy sales via machine or over-the-counter.
It is apparent that the higher the demonstrable circulation of a newspaper, the more can be charged for advertising rates which constitute the major source of newspaper publisher income.
Circulation figures of member newspaper publishers are recorded by a national organization known as the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) and such figures are made available to advertisers. It is known in the art that advertisers generally base advertising decisions upon the home delivery circulation figures of a newspaper and not upon the single copy vending machine sales. This is because the home delivery figures represent a guaranteed penetration of the market and the single copy vending machine sales do not.
Thus, while newspaper publishers have, for customer convenience and newspaper exposure, long felt a need to have a vending machine network, vending machine sales have not traditionally enhanced the important advertising revenues since such sales are not guaranteed.
It would, therefore, be of great significance in the art to provide a newspaper vending machine system and method which would provide a guaranteed sale, i.e. the equivalent of a home delivery pre-paid subscription.
It has also been known in the art that home delivery to newspaper subscribers in large apartment and condominium buildings has suffered the drawback of repeated newspaper theft and consequent customer complaints and subscription cancellations. lt would thus be of consequence in the art if such apartment home delivery could be accomplished in a more reliable and effective manner.